Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,897
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$9,193
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,038
South Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in South Carolina — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$52,090
Kept after tax
$42,897
Worth in national money
$46,038
State rank
36
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $52,090, 36 of 50 states and about 13.21% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 257 among 492 occupations South Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,090 you keep $42,897 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $46,038 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $55,910, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina's $52,090 median for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators places it 36 of 50 states, about 13.21% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 257 of 492 in South Carolina places water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $42,897 after the full tax stack, from $52,090. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,038 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $55,910 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,850 |
| This salary | $52,090 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in South Carolina | $42,897 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,034 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$723 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $50,674 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$875 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in South Carolina earn under $52,090 and half over. The published range runs $39,060 at the tenth percentile to $76,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Carolina's $42,897, worked from $52,090. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 257 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,038 uses one figure for the whole of South Carolina. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 257.
- Figures are distribution medians for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,060 to $76,850; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The South Carolina take-home of $42,897, on $52,090 for work ranking 257 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 257 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,038, worked from $52,090, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Carolina address, on work sitting at 257 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $55,910 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,060 and the top tenth $76,850 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $46,038.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and South Carolina's own levy, $42,897 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in South Carolina is $55,910. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($39,060) and the ninetieth ($76,850) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
South Carolina's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $46,038 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $42,897 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and South Carolina income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.